Page 1513 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016

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(f) that at the event at which the address was delivered, the Chief Minister implied, in response to a question, that seniors were becoming a problem in the ACT because they chose to stay in Canberra, when previously they retired to the coast, thus posing a future burden on the ACT economy; and

(2) calls on the Chief Minister to:

(a) apologise to Canberra’s seniors’ population for the disrespect he has shown them;

(b) recognise the important contribution that seniors have made to the ACT economy;

(d) provide reassurance to ACT seniors that he and the ACT Government do not support ageist policies and attitudes;

(e) ensure equal employment opportunity practices, including for seniors, are applied within the ACT Public Service; and

(f) ensure Government policies and practices identify and appropriately support the needs of ACT seniors.

Madam Assistant Speaker, I am pleased to bring forward this motion today to draw attention to a section of our community that has been increasingly overlooked by the current government. That sector is our seniors. When I talk of seniors, I am using the ABS definition, which is those persons aged 65 years and over. As my motion points out, the most recent census in 2011 recorded 38,159 ACT residents, or 11 per cent of the population, aged 65 and over.

Earlier this year the ABS published some interesting facts about Australia’s ageing population. Not only has the median age of Australians risen by four years, but in Canberra we have the second fastest growing percentage of seniors and we also have the second highest growth in the number of Canberrans aged over 85 years.

While it is true that Canberra has the second lowest median range of all states and territories, we know that there is still 11 per cent of our population in the seniors bracket. And, perhaps particularly relevant for Mr Barr in this election year, in some suburbs in his electorate that percentage is even higher. For example, in Red Hill the percentage is 16.9 per cent; in Narrabundah, 15 per cent; in Lyneham, 14.6 per cent; and in Hackett, 16.8 per cent. In fact, the majority of the suburbs in Mr Barr’s electorate have a higher percentage of seniors than the Canberra average.

So when our Chief Minister delivers an important address such as his state of the territory address, which had many stirring sentiments and inspirational goals, it is more than disappointing that nowhere in that oration did the word “seniors” appear. He said:

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